WHEN she emerged, the mother-in-law sat down again and stressed that in fact, Maria had not been seen in the locality since she left with him in the city.
Maria’s brother appeared from his usual drinking spree escapades and proceeded to confront Lazzo.  “So, you have come to cause trouble again here, you know that I can beat you?,” he asked in a drunken stupor.
Lazzo felt very unsafe but very quickly found his tempo. “You beating me, what for?” he asked as he got an instant reply, “Because you are troubling my sister!” he declared as he staggered a bit towards Lazzo’s mother-in-law who stepped in,”
Now, stop this nonsense, you are drunk, we do not talk to drunkards who can not solve anything!” she spoke with authority as Maria’s brother became quiet.
Meanwhile, Maria had fled with K10,000 which he gave her to obtain a plot in the hood.
But Maria had different ideas and she took off with the loot and headed for ‘Zambia Compound’ where she opened an opaque brew tarven.
After the hostile reception, Lazzo decided to head back to the city that evening.
He walked to the bus terminus and waited for the bus arriving from Nakonde en route to Lusaka.
Lazzo huddled at a rectangular  brickwall structure where a few travellers equally waited for a bus sitting with their assortment of luggage.
Approaching at a distance was Lazzo’s brother-in-law accompanied by his elder brother who proceeded to ask Lazzo to get home for the evening.
A sudden meeting had been held shortly after Lazzo had left for the bus station. Lazzo’s father—in-law had convened a family meeting at which it was resolved that they bring back the guest for some discussions.
He had heard that city people had connections with lawyers and if let go away with fury would sue the family for what was happening.
The in-law also observed that Maria had made a mistake because she was cohabiting with a man whose occupation was trapping bush rats for sale.
Besides, when she arrived in’ Zambia Compound’, she quickly bought three bales of second hand clothes for herself, brother and the new-found hubby, all out of Lazzo’s money!
That evening, Lazzo was offered one of the huts for rent which were numerous in the village.
The week Lazzo spent in the vicinity was enough to open the Pandora Box… His place of residence was behind the ‘new watering hole’ where he spent the evening with a cluster of young acquaintances.
He was one of those men who got money ‘off the wall’ using a piece of plastic which he inserted in a machine stuck in the wall.
“This machine can tell whether you are the owner of the money you want to get or you have stolen the piece of plastic,’” said a youth one evening.
“If you take someone’s plastic and want to get the money, the camera will see you and you get into trouble,” he continued.
“But I hear that it is not possible to get the money off the wall because the machine there will not open.  When you are given the piece of plastic, they also give you a secret number,” another interjected.
“There is nothing like that, as long as you have that plastic, the number is printed on it.  You don’t know anything because what can you know in this village?” he asked obviously chiding his friend who seemed not to take offence.
He said he had seen one man who worked for a Chinese road construction company who also got money from the bank wall.
Lazzo had developed a habit in his new enclave into an entertainment spot where imbibing at dusk was not uncommon.
The boys had a habit of organising drinking female mates outside the hut and sometimes ‘sweeping arrangements’ meant that these colleagues would hide the key high up in-between the grass and the wooden rafter of the roof where Lazzo would find it.
Maria’s brother appeared from his usual drinking spree escapades and proceeded to confront Lazzo.  “So, you have come to cause trouble again here, you know that I can beat you?,” he asked in a drunken stupor.
Lazzo felt very unsafe but very quickly found his tempo. “You beating me, what for?,” he asked as he got an instant reply,”Because you are troubling my sister!,” he declared as he staggered a bit towards
Lazzo’s mother-in-law who stepped in,”Now, stop this nonsense, you are drunk, we do not talk to drunkards who can not solve anything!,” she spoke with authority as Maria’s brother became quiet.
Meanwhile, Maria had fled with K10,OOO which he gave her to obtain a plot in the hood.
But Maria had different ideas. She took off with the loot and headed for ‘Zambia Compound’ where she opened an opaque brew tavern.
After the hostile reception, Lazzo decided to head back to the city that evening.
He walked to the bus terminus and waited for the bus connecting from
Nakonde en route to Lusaka.
Lazzo huddled at a rectangular  brickwall structure where a few travellers equally waited for a bus sitting with their assortment of luggage.
Approaching at a distance was Lazzo’s brother-in-law accompanied by his elder brother who proceeded to ask Lazzo to get home for the evening.
A sudden meeting had been held shortly after Lazzo left for the bus station. Lazzo’s  father—in-law had convened a family meeting at which it was resolved that they bring back the guest.
He had heard that city people had connections with lawyers and he would sue the family for what was happening.
The in-law also observed that Maria had made a mistake because she was cohabiting with a man whose occupation was trapping bush rats for sale.
Besides, when she arrived in’ Zambia Compound’, she quickly bought three bales of second hand clothes for herself, brother and the new-found hubby, all out of Lazzo’s money!
That evening, Lazzo was ffered one of the huts for rent which were numerous in the village.
They told him that no one would steal from the hut as long as they were there and would ensure his stay was peaceful. Long hours of imbibing ensued into the night…

(To be continued)